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Americans much divided on gay rights issues
Times Record News ^ | December 11, 2003 | THOMAS HARGROVE

Posted on 12/11/2003 3:29:58 PM PST by yonif

More than a quarter of American adults say they would vote against political candidates who publicly acknowledge being gay or lesbian, a new poll has found.

A majority of Americans say they oppose allowing homosexuals to legally marry. But adults are much more divided over whether to permit legally recognized gay unions, according to a survey of 1,054 adults conducted by Scripps Howard News Service and Ohio University.

Gay politicians and political activists are divided over whether there has been anti-homosexual fallout following recent court rulings and legislative proposals to grant legal recognition to gay couples.

"There definitely has been a bit of a backlash, more than I originally would have thought," said Mark Mead, spokesman for Log Cabin Republicans, a group advocating gay rights within the GOP. "Clearly, there are soccer moms who are with us on the issues of equality but who really think the word 'marriage' belongs only to them. And they want to keep it that way."

Rep. Barney Frank, a Massachusetts Democrat and the first openly gay member of Congress to be re-elected, disagrees.

"When I acknowledged being gay in 1987, we asked people if this would make them less likely to vote for me. The number then was about 22 percent," Frank said. "That was a higher percentage than this poll is showing in the Northeast now."

Nationally, the poll found that 27 percent said they would be likely to vote against "a candidate for Congress who publicly said he is gay." Three percent said his sexual orientation would make them more likely to support the candidate, 67 percent said it would make no difference and 3 percent were undecided.

The findings varied dramatically by region. Nineteen percent of residents from the Northeast said they would vote against gay candidates, compared to 32 percent in the South.

The survey found nearly identical results for a female congressional candidate who acknowledged being a lesbian.

How Americans react to homosexuality sharply divides along many political and social lines, the survey found. Americans who would support gay politicians or would grant legal recognition to gay couples tend to be young, single, childless, liberal, oriented toward the Democratic Party, urban or suburban, and not intensely involved in organized religion.

Self-described strong conservatives and Republicans tend to be at least three times more likely to oppose gay politicians as are strong liberals and Democrats.

"The people who are opposed tend to be very conservative - most of them, but not all - and would be inclined to vote against a gay candidate because of his or her political positions, I would think," said Frank.

The survey found 42 percent were "strongly opposed" when asked: "Recently, there has been talk about allowing gays and lesbians to marry a partner of the same sex. What do you think about same-sex marriage?" Ten percent were "somewhat opposed," 27 percent were either strongly or mildly in favor.

But 36 percent said they support "a law that would allow gay or lesbian couples to legally form civil unions, giving them some of the legal rights of married couples." The poll found 44 percent opposed such unions and 20 percent were uncertain.

"This is a matter for the American people to decide. Traditional marriage is under attack by judicial activists," said Sen. Jeff Sessions, R-Ala. Sessions, angered last month by a Massachusetts Supreme Court ruling that gays have a right to legally sanctioned unions, introduced a constitutional amendment stating that "marriage in the United States shall consist only of the union of a man and a woman."

Sessions said his amendment would not prevent state legislatures from creating legally recognized civil unions. And, when told of the survey findings, he said the politics of homosexuality is becoming complex.

"A number (of gay candidates) have been successful," Sessions said. "People maybe are willing to dismiss that in favor of other qualities a candidate may have. A candidate just has to state his case to the people."

Mead agreed: "Most gay candidates who are successful aren't elected because they are gay, but because they are good candidates."

The poll found that incumbent members of Congress, generally speaking, are not helping their re-election chances by either permitting homosexual marriage or same-sex civil unions. Adults in the survey were about four times more likely to say they would vote against an incumbent who supports either proposal than to say they would be more likely to support the incumbent. Nearly half said the issue would "make no difference" to them.

The survey was conducted at the Scripps Survey Research Center at Ohio University. Residents of the United States were interviewed by telephone from Oct. 20 through Nov. 4 in a study funded by a grant from the Scripps Foundation.

The overall poll has a 4 percentage point margin of error, although the margin increases when examining attitudes among smaller groups within the survey.

Further details of the poll and the operations of the Scripps Survey Research Center can be found at www.newspolls.org.

(Thomas Hargrove is a reporter for Scripps Howard News Service. Guido H. Stempel III is a professor emeritus at the E.W. Scripps School of Journalism at Ohio University.)


TOPICS: Culture/Society; Extended News; News/Current Events
KEYWORDS: gays; homosexual; homosexualagenda; issues; poll; samesexmarriage

1 posted on 12/11/2003 3:29:58 PM PST by yonif
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To: yonif
You know the libs are on the short end of the stick when they talk about us being sharply divided.
2 posted on 12/11/2003 3:34:52 PM PST by Always Right
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To: yonif
More than a quarter of American adults say they would vote against political candidates who publicly acknowledge being gay or lesbian,

Only 25%? I would think it would be a lot higher than that. But then again a lot of folks don't find homos that offensive in theory, and then change their mind when the see what they actually do in practice. An old girlfriend of mine was unaffected by the idea of homosexuality until she came home unexpectedly from college one day and caught her brother in the act. After that the whole thing completely repulsed her. .....the image (and smell) unfortunately searing her brain forever.

Similarly, I suspect that the majority of people who say that a fruit in office wouldn't bother them would see things differently if they turned on the tube only to see a homo Prez and his "first partner" engaged in a AlTipperGore-like kiss, or dance the night away together at the inaugural ball.

3 posted on 12/11/2003 3:48:23 PM PST by Mr. Mojo
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To: yonif
The main arguments for gay marriage are ability to participate in health care issues, and inheritance rights. Gay persons already have these privileges, or rights, by contracting for them. Wills and trusts law give any person, regardless of their sexual proclivities, the ability to dispose of their property as they see fit. All they need do is engage in some minimal estate planning. The medical decisions are also taken care of by Powers of Attorney for health care, where one person appoints another to act for them in case of legal incompetency.

I think this may be a case of 'be careful what you wish for.' Suppose the marriage privilege is conferred upon gays. What happens several years down the road when the divorces begin to occur? The alimony (spousal maintenance) claims, the property divisions, the child support claims (we are there already), custody evaluations, the general hell of it all. They would be happier living together like so many others desiring not to be subject to the marital laws.

Not to mention having an institution of gay marriage forces some kind of acceptance upon everyone else......what was that about tyranny of the minority?
4 posted on 12/11/2003 4:18:00 PM PST by dropped1
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To: scripter; ArGee
ping
5 posted on 12/11/2003 4:33:58 PM PST by EdReform (Support Free Republic - Become a Monthly Donor)
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To: yonif
I ma sharply divided--do I hate the sexual predators caught
in that web of homosexual deciet-calling themselves "friends" of those they wish to have sex with more-- Or do I hate the creeps in the "already captured
liberal establishment and the press"for keeping this maneur
an item for liberal politicians seeking Power--more?
It's a dilemma.
6 posted on 12/11/2003 6:47:12 PM PST by StonyBurk
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